“Power Line Communication” refers to communications that occur over power distribution lines, including alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC) lines. Power Line Communication has been a controversial topic since its inception. It has been established, for example, that Power Line Communication can often be unreliable and can cause interference.
In a photovoltaic (PV) system, photovoltaic panels (solar panels) are used to convert sunlight into electrical energy. In many photovoltaic systems, large arrays of photovoltaic panels are used to generate electrical energy. For example, an array could include a number of photovoltaic panels coupled in series to form a string, and multiple strings can be coupled in parallel. Using Power Line Communication in a photovoltaic system can be problematic since typical Power Line Communication schemes are too expensive, too unreliable, or both. Other wired communication schemes can suffer similar problems.